Its all about the light

Back in the day when I was studying History of Art as one of my high-school subjects we studied Van Gogh (who is still one of my favourites) and followed the evolution of his painting style from the very beginning in Holland until his death years later in France. One thing that struck me during those classes was the fact that Van Gogh made such a big deal about the quality of the light in the south of France, in comparison to the light in Holland. It was something that I didn’t understand at the time… I figured that the light was just the light, how could it be so different from one European country to another? I grew up in South Africa where there is an abundance of gorgeous light and in my teenage ignorance assumed it would be the same anywhere else in the world. It wasn’t until I started travelling and visited the north of Europe that I realised that there is a difference. An enormous difference. And I think that when I realised this difference, when I became acutely aware of the light and how it behaved in different circumstances, was when I really started to grow as a photographer. Once that door had been opened for me, everything else seemed to fall in place with much less effort than before.

And I also think that if Van Gogh had made it as far as Portugal in his search for beautiful light he might have stuck around bit longer and kept painting…